Chromium, though excellent in corrosion resistance and heat resistance, is limited in its application to use chiefly as additives to alloys. Under the present situation, use of chromium as a single substance has not been put into practical use except as a target material for sputtering.
Limitation of application of chromium arises from brittleness in itself attributed to brittleness of grain boundaries. Plastic processing of chromium is therefore very difficult. Hence, production of practical chromium moldings cannot but rely on processes having poor yields, such as discharge processing and wire cutting, and it has been virtually impossible to obtain chromium moldings of complicated shapes.
Problems due to brittleness of grain boundaries of metals, such as chromium, can be fundamentally solved by obtaining single crystals having no boundaries.
Known techniques for obtaining single crystals of metals, for example, molybdenum, include secondary recrystallization as described in No. JP-A-59-141,498 (the term "JP-A" as used herein means an "unexamined published Japanese patent application"). In carrying out this method, addition of an additive called a pinning element to a single crystal component is an essential condition, and strict quantitative control of the additive, e.g., CaO and MgO, is required.
A currently widespread method for obtaining chromium single crystals is a floating zone melting method. This method however involves various problems, such as limited productivity per unit time, limitation of the products in shape to a bar of relatively small diameter, and need of a very complicated apparatus for creating a reducing atmosphere. It has thus been extremely difficult to obtain a chromium single crystal having a complicated shape.
If a large-sized, optionally shaped chromium single crystal can be obtained easily, the problem of poor yields in working by the conventional processing techniques would be eliminated, and application to electronic parts of relatively complicated shape could be expected, thus greatly broadening the application of chromium.